VSG Maintenance Group

Good Article on OH

Liz WantsHealthForAll
on 12/4/17 8:47 am - Cape Cod, MA
VSG on 03/28/16

in case you haven't seen this, I thought it was very appropriate based on how most of us are eating/making choices: http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/good-vs-bad-foods-after- wls-dietitians-perspective

Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-123 CW: 120 (after losing 20 lb. regain)!

VSGAnn2014
on 12/4/17 12:33 pm, edited 12/4/17 4:33 am
VSG on 08/14/14

Liz, thanks for linking to this article. The author's perspective (that there are no "bad" or "good" foods) certainly jibes with my post-op experience these last 3 years and nearly 4 months.

Today's my birthday, and I'm having chocolate cake. Half a piece, actually. With a silver candle on it. And 5 ounces of wine. And I'm going to love it!

:)

ANN 5'5", AGE 74, HW 235.6 (BMI 39.2), SW 216, GW 150, CW 132, BMI 22

POUNDS LOST: Pre-op -20, M1 -10, M2 -11, M3 -10, M4 -10, M5 -7, M6 -5, M7 -6, M8 -4, M9 -4,
NEXT 10 MOS. -12, TOTAL -100 LBS.

Liz WantsHealthForAll
on 12/4/17 1:08 pm - Cape Cod, MA
VSG on 03/28/16

I absolutely agree with that kind of celebration! Happy Birthday again!

Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-123 CW: 120 (after losing 20 lb. regain)!

CC C.
on 12/4/17 9:01 pm

Made a lot of sense. One of the two comments underneath dismissing her advice because she'd never been morbidly obese or had WLS illustrates the all or nothing thinking she is challenging people to question!

(deactivated member)
on 12/5/17 8:46 pm

Wonderful article! I guess it doesn't hurt that she is espousing my sentiments quite succinctly! LOL!

Sparklekitty is one of the AMAW people and is hard core low carb. It works for her. It would also work for me short term, but it's not the way I want my food life to remain.

Moderation in eating.... fantastic topic for a true and honest discussion. While so many of us know moderation doesn't work for us, I am going offer that we look at what foods we cannot eat in moderation and instead of classifying that food as bad, figuring out why that food can cause an avalanche poor eating choices that lead to weight gain.

VSGAnn2014
on 12/6/17 2:32 am
VSG on 08/14/14

Devon, your suggestion -- "figuring out why that food [we cannot eat in moderation] can cause an avalanche of poor eating choices that lead to weight gain" is a good topic.

For me, poor eating choices are triggered by some klaxon-sounding calculus of both the types of foods available and my stress levels at the moment.

I could arrange all the food in the world on a Food Seductiveness Scale ranging from (a) foods I can leave in plain view on the kitchen counter and would never eat in the middle of the night to (z) foods I can't even buy and bring home, even if I put them in the downstairs refrigerator.

The foods I have the most difficulty eating only in moderation are high-sugar or salty foods like:

Dark chocolate (in various forms)
Crunchy cookies
Cakes
Tortilla chips
Potato chips

And as I said above, the poor-eating calculus involves HALT-like stress levels that can make less seductive foods (like bread and cheese) problematic. Oddly, very high stress levels put me off my feed.

If this were a therapy session, my therapist would ask me how I feel when that is happening. ;)

So ... when I do make poor eating choices that I cannot justify at all, it's typically in the middle of the night with food that has absolutely zero nutritional value and that requires only the tearing open of a package or wrapper. I have initial feelings of "this is your reward" or "this will make up for ...." or "this is not normal or boring." Right now, as I'm typing these words my mouth is watering.

Of course, the "hangover" involves regret, guilt, anger (at myself), disappointment, and sincere surprise that I'm still susceptible to the seduction.

I didn't do any of this during my weight-loss period. In the last two years of maintenance, this has happened maybe 4 times a year and winds up "costing me" 3,000 - 4,500 calories in a 24-hour period. I don't think the behavior qualifies as binging, in that I'm not trying to feel full, don't feel like I have to eat all the food that's there, and don't plan for or buy food to eat at these specific times. It's more like once the tastes are triggered, I want to keep enjoying the tastes.

However, maybe I don't recognize it as binge eating because I don't know enough about BED. Still, this feels like "comfort eating" or maybe akin to what a social drinker who gets drunk 4 times a year is doing.

Bottom line (for now) is that I don't have trouble moderating many foods most of the time. But every few months my moderation borders are crossed. And so far those events haven't caused an "avalanche" of poor eating choices that lead to weight gain.

I wonder if skinny people ever cross these moderation borders? Put another way, how common / normal is this behavior?

ANN 5'5", AGE 74, HW 235.6 (BMI 39.2), SW 216, GW 150, CW 132, BMI 22

POUNDS LOST: Pre-op -20, M1 -10, M2 -11, M3 -10, M4 -10, M5 -7, M6 -5, M7 -6, M8 -4, M9 -4,
NEXT 10 MOS. -12, TOTAL -100 LBS.

Liz WantsHealthForAll
on 12/6/17 4:40 am - Cape Cod, MA
VSG on 03/28/16

"How common / normal is this behavior?". Good question. I think it is common amongst us WLS people, but is it amping people who have alsways been thin? I don't think so, as I've never seen DH do this.

I kind of did it last night with the 3 cupcakes. Good thing it was end of day and I had made good choices earlier. I read another article about analyzing stress when feeling complelled to eat which made me do some thinking: http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/10-strategies-to-combat- stress-eating-after-bariatric-surgery

Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-123 CW: 120 (after losing 20 lb. regain)!

VSGAnn2014
on 12/6/17 11:20 am
VSG on 08/14/14

Thank you for that link, Liz. It's very helpful -- had never thought of aromatherapy (I do have some essential oils for relaxation I can use) and have recently discovered calm.com. I'm doing a free 7-day trial on that site (it looks good). Even youtube has some gorgeous relaxation 2-hour tapes to listen to. And some other good ideas on that link.

Your comment about DH not doing this makes me realize I've never, ever seen my husband do that either. Hmmm. Sounds like this is a behavior not distributed to everyone with a human body -- just us "special folks." ;)

ANN 5'5", AGE 74, HW 235.6 (BMI 39.2), SW 216, GW 150, CW 132, BMI 22

POUNDS LOST: Pre-op -20, M1 -10, M2 -11, M3 -10, M4 -10, M5 -7, M6 -5, M7 -6, M8 -4, M9 -4,
NEXT 10 MOS. -12, TOTAL -100 LBS.

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